I hate to say it (because he wouldn't be a rocket), but you're right, he's definately earned his right to be on a team.
i'll disagree with mr. niceguy shane battier and say that harris is just not good enough to make it in the nba. he's obviously good enough to get a chance here and there (played on a 10 day contract for the wizards last season) but he won't stick long term. also, mike harris already played in china and his ties to the rockets and yao are his best chance to earn some money over there. you get a good pay check in china if you're popular because: a) you're a washed up nba player. or b) you have ties to the rockets / yao ming. some random unknown american basketball player who couldn't make an nba roster won't earn that much money in china. so the ties to the rockets / yao are actually pretty valuable for mike harris. imho, harris should try to find a team in europe. his lack of size (as a 4) and lack of quickness (as a 3) won't be a disadvantage in europe. he's good enough to use his athleticism to his advantage in fiba ball. plus, he could get better and more skilled by establishing himself as a good fiba player. he could earn some money, get better and then try to make an nba team again in 2 or 3 years. he'll be almost 30 by then but he's already too old now to get an nba contract just based on potential.
He probably figures that he's more likely to make a team where he's got the best relationships. Can't blame the guy, but there's a glut of bigs right now who need minutes. I bet Harris is better than Patterson right now, but you've got to bet on Patterson's potential.
I agree with the Batman, Harris IS good enough to make a roster. Any moron can see that, DM wouldn't have brought him to camp for like the 3rd time now if Harris wasn't good enough. In a vacuum, Harris would make the ideal 10th man, because he's someone who's good enough to push the other guys in practice yet he won't whine about playing time because he'd already experienced what its like to be out of the league. The main problem is that there are about a billion Mike Harrises out there waiting for a chance, and unlike Harris some of them still have the "Potential" tag attached to them. Being a tweener, Harris is overlooked by team scouts who see his profile and decide he's too short to be a 4 but too slow to be a 3. Rather than get the known commodity, why not get the high upside, extremely raw guys who just dunked on someone's head, or that sweet shooting forward who just scored 30 pts in an NBDL game? But based on production alone Harris is good enough to make an NBA team. Cook is still on someone's roster after all, and he's at least 3x as good as Cook at this point.
Mike Harris is perfect for China. He played for Rice in college and Rice products are popular in China.
Good for him. He played in China IIRC and again IIRC they were holding a spot for MH. But, wholesale openings are not there for all the Andersons and Johnsons of cut-down days trans-NBA.
I believe MH is like a AAAA baseball player - too good for the minors not good enough for the majors. They call them 4A'ers. That is Mike IMHO. Go to China and make some yuan.
If Mr I won't work mine arse off in training camp/preseason Dampier does sign here then I suspect Jermaine will be ta-ta. I like JT's upside but I suspect I'll like it less if/when he succeeds elsewhere instead of the Toy Shop.
Woohoo they can come play with me as I lead the team to the D-League championship! Ish will be a future solid back-up, Patrick a starter on almost, but not quite playoff teams, and JT a career journeyman.
Not sure if this article has been posted, "Three's a welcome crowd With Smith, Rockets have trio of point guards" http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/7254958.html
